Towards the recovery and publication of the ancient ballads and songs of the Scottish borders, which had only been preserved by the recitations of the peasantry, Scott had early formed important intentions.  The independence of his circumstances now enabled him to execute his long-cherished scheme.  He made periodical excursions into Liddesdale, a wild pastoral district on the Scottish border, anciently peopled by the noted Elliots and Armstrongs, in quest of old ballads and traditions; and the fruits of his research, along with much curious information, partly communicated to him by intelligent correspondents, he gave to the world, in 1802, in two volumes octavo, under the title of “Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.”  He added in the following year a third volume, consisting of imitations of ancient ballads, composed by himself and others.  These volumes issued from the printing-press of his early friend and school-fellow, Mr James Ballantyne of Kelso, who had already begun to indicate that skill in typography for which he was afterwards so justly celebrated.  In 1804 he published, from the Auchinleck Manuscript in the Advocates’ Library, the ancient metrical tale of “Sir Tristrem;” and, in an elaborate introduction, he endeavoured to prove that it was the composition of Thomas of Ercildoune, better known as Thomas the Rhymer.  He published in 1805 “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,” an original ballad poem, which, speedily attaining a wide circulation, procured for him an extensive reputation, and the substantial reward of L600.

The prosperity of the poet rose with his fame.  In the year following that which produced the “Lay,” he received his appointment as a principal clerk of the Court of Session, an office which afterwards brought him L1200 a-year.  To literary occupation he now resolved to dedicate his intervals of leisure.  In 1808 he produced “Marmion,” his second great poem, which brought him L1000 from the publisher, and at once established his fame.  During the same year he completed the heavy task of editing the works of Dryden, in eighteen volumes.  In 1809 he edited the state papers and letters of Sir Ralph Sadler, and became a contributor to the Edinburgh Annual Register, conducted by Southey.  “The Lady of the Lake,” the most happily-conceived and popular of his poetical works, appeared in 1810; “Don Roderick,” in 1811; “Rokeby,” in 1813; and “The Lord of the Isles,” in 1814.  “Harold the Dauntless,” and “The Bridal of Triermain,” appeared subsequently, without the author’s name.

As a poet, Scott had now attained a celebrity unrivalled among his contemporaries, and it was in the apprehension of compromising his reputation, that, in attempting a new species of composition, he was extremely anxious to conceal the name of the author.  The novel of “Waverley,” which appeared in 1814, did not, however, suffer from its being anonymous; for, although the sale was somewhat heavy at first, the work soon afterwards reached the extraordinary circulation